Getting What You Asked For
by Gypsy Druid
Summary: Since I still have unresolved issues with "Empty Places", I thought I exorcise them here. Enjoy.
1. Chapter 1

Getting What You Asked For

**Disclaimers:** I own nothing and no one. Yadda yadda yadda. No money made. Yadda yadda yadda. You know.. the usual.

**Spoilers:** A little adjustment to "Empty Places" & after "Chosen"

**Summary:** Since I still have unresolved issues with "Empty Places", I thought I exorcise them here. Enjoy. FR13 cause Faith is in it.

Chapter One

_They threw me out._ Buffy thought as she wandered down Revello Drive. _I can't believe they actually threw me out._

Only moments ago, her sister, her watcher and her friends, sided with the Potentials and decided that, even though she _knew_ there was something hidden in the vineyard, her need to get it was too dangerous. The Potentials, she could understand. They were scared and they were children. But the Scoobies knew better. They knew that sometimes things got dangerous but, after seven years, how could this have possibly been surprising to them?

"I can't believe they did this." Buffy muttered angrily.

"Well, believe it, little girl." A snide, country voice taunted. "We've been waiting for you. You're little friends have sent you into our righteous arms."

Buffy turned to face the preacher, her anger suddenly morphing into a rage so intense, she was almost shaking with it. "This isn't a good time, Preacher. Run back to the little mama."

"You watch your mouth, dirty girl." Caleb snarled. "Your friends have abandoned you. Maybe if you beg nicely, I'll kill you quickly."

Buffy snarled and threw a punch so fast that, even though he was staring right at her, he never saw it coming. Before he could react, she nailed him a few more times before the Bringers descended on them and Buffy had to divert her attention to avoid getting cut to pieces. Caleb picked himself up, spitting out blood, and was about to launch himself at her when a familiar voice stopped him.

"**Let them wear her down."** The image of another Buffy Summers appeared next to him. **"Then you can kill her."**

"Do you really have to take that form now?" Caleb asked in exasperation. "It's a little distracting."

The apparition smirked at him, but obligingly morphed into another form. Side by side, they watched as Buffy took down the Bringers, one by one. Snapping the neck of one after using his body as a shield, she grabbed his sword and, with an experienced twirl that would made Xena proud, she beckoned them on. They were the perfect targets for her current rage.

The fight seemed to last forever for Buffy. Sweat ran down her forehead, and she was slightly panting by the time the last Bringer died and Caleb finally decided to get involved. As she ducked under his wild swing, Buffy spared a moment to be grateful that there weren't any Turok-Han in the entourage, just before he landed a shot that sent her flying into a tree several feet away.

Her emotions still fueling her strength, she jumped back to her feet and spit out a mouthful of blood. "C'mon, Caleb. You can do better than that."

The mad Preacher snarled furiously and ran at her, his eyes fanatic and insane. Buffy ducked a swing at her head and kicked out, smashing the heel of her shoe into his kneecap with all of her considerable leg strength. The moment the leg collapsed, she pressed her advantage, smashing his temple with the sword hilt. His head slammed into the same tree she had hit only a few moments before. In a desperate move, he backhanded her, sending her rolling away, but she recovered quickly as he made it to his feet. With a final cry of anger, she ran at him just as he pushed away from the tree, running him through with the sword so hard that it penetrated to thick trunk of the tree and pinned him in place.

**"You bitch!"** The First screamed at her as Caleb coughed, blood flying out of his mouth to splatter on her already dirty clothes.

"You know something, Preacher," Buffy said conversationally. "I'm glad we had this talk. I actually feel much better. Now, since you're a little preoccupied, I'm gonna go see what you've got hiding in the vineyard that's calling to me."

~~~ BtVS ~~ BtVS ~~~

"What the hell were you assholes thinking?" Faith snapped, slamming the door shut behind her.

"What?" Xander and Kennedy asked at the same time.

"We had to." Willow whispered.

"I would think you would be relieved to be given such a chance, Faith." Giles said after a moment.

"What chance?" Faith growled. "All I wanted was for her to slow down and take breather. Despite my current company, I'm not stupid, and I for damn sure ain't suicidal. What the hell are you thinking, choosing me over her. I've been an active Slayer for less than year because I was a bad guy and in prison, and you think I'm ready to take on the biggest enemy in fucking history? She's the best we got and you just ditched her like garbage. I wanted her to slow the fuck down, not leave."

"But..." Dawn stammered.

"Oh, shut up." Faith snarled at her. "She died for you, fought off social services for you, and you just sent her out of the house that she's killing herself to keep over your head, so I don't wanna hear a damn thing from you."

Dawn gasped and her eyes filled tears, but Faith turned her back on her, feeling no sympathy.

"That was uncalled for, Faith." Giles said sternly, pulling his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You're her Watcher, _Giles_." Faith snapped back. "You're supposed to back her up no matter what. Do you dumbasses even realize what you've have just done?"

"Yeah, we kicked out an overbearing, egotistical, holier-than-thou..." Before she could get any further, Faith backhanded the nasty comments right out of Kennedy's mouth, making Anya shriek as blood splattered on the pretty shirt that she'd gotten out of Buffy's closet since her own had been ruined in the fight. Willow cried out and dropped down beside her lover.

"You just kicked B out with _no fucking weapons_!" Everyone stared at her in horror. "There are Bringers and those dino-vamps out there, not to mention Caleb, and she's defenseless."

"Oh, Goddess, she's right!" Willow jumped to her feet, momentarily forgetting about her girlfriend. "We've got to go find her!"

"There ain't no '_we'_ in this." Faith yelled at them. "_I'll_ go find her, and make sure she gets someplace safe for the night. The rest of you, stay here and get everyone patched up. Anyone follows me, and I'll knock your ass out and leave you where you fall."

"What do you mean, someplace safe?" Dawn asked weakly, following her to the weapons chest in the corner. "You've got to bring her back here."

"I ain't gotta do shit." Faith said, grabbing a couple of swords and an axe.

"You were a part of this, too, Faith." Dawn reminded her, getting angry at Faith's unreasonable attitude.

"Know what, you're right, I was." Faith slammed the chest closed, making people jump. "Right up until you told her to leave. Right up until everyone started looking at me for what to do next. I'm no leader, Dawn. Ain't got the head for it. I don't know shit about fighting the BIG fight. I was either in a coma or in jail when it happened. I can barely take care of myself, much less you bunch."

Then, she was gone before anyone could saw another word.

"Okay, what just happened?" asked a confused Rona.

~~~ BtVS ~~ BtVS ~~~

Faith used her connection to Buffy to follow her trail. After she'd gotten over the shock of getting their asses so unquestionably kicked, and the shock of actually seeing the Scoobs turn on Buffy, she realized that Buffy's emotions were running so high, she could actually feel them through their Slayer connection. Her sense of anger and betrayal had been so overwhelming, that it had made Faith realize what they'd just done.

When their eyes had met that final time before Buffy had disappeared into the darkness, Faith had nearly been floored by the glazed look of shock and weariness in her dulled green eyes, and with a jolt she realized that, for the last few weeks, the other woman had done nothing but train, clean up, and patrol. Hell, the only reason that she wasn't still working was because there was no one going to school. She slept when she could, but it wasn't often since she was so busy protecting everyone and trying to live up to everyone's expectations. The elder Slayer was running on nothing but fumes and sheer grit.

"Fuck." Faith muttered to herself. "Of course she don't know their names. When did she have time to fucking learn?"

She finally admitted to herself that she was worried. Worried that Buffy would do something stupid, like go back to the vineyard anyway. She was so sure that there was something there that they needed, something that was calling to her Slayer side, but Faith didn't feel it, and it was the main reason why she'd been against going back. But Faith had to admit that she wasn't nearly as strong a Slayer as Buffy. Fighting-wise, sure, they were about even, since her street smarts made her a match for Buffy's experience, but her instincts weren't nearly as developed. Thinking about it now, she realized that Buffy had a valid point. Caleb and his cronies had been guarding the vineyard kinda hard when the Hellmouth was in the school.

She froze as she remembered something. The vineyard belonged to The Boss, and _he'd_ had the place guarded like Fort Knox too.

"Oh, shit." She cursed, breaking out into a run. "Something probably _is_ there."

She had just caught the scent of fresh blood when she heard a motorcycle approach. "Oy, killer! Wait up!"

She skidded to a halt and waited for Spike. "What's goin' on? Dropped the whelp off when I caught the scent of blood in the air, and a lot of it. Bringers, the Nutter and the Slayer. Where is she?"

Faith paled. "Can you track the scent?" She asked, ignoring the questions. "I think B's in trouble."

Spike's eyes narrowed, but he kept his questions to himself. Something wasn't right, and he was worried about Buffy. "Get on."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

_What are you going to do now?_

Buffy thought about the question that someone had just asked her. It was finally over. The First was defeated, the Hellmouth was destroyed, and Sunnydale was nothing more than a large hole in the ground. There were hundreds of Slayers, all over the world. For the first time since she was fifteen, she could do what she wanted to, not what she had to.

"Buffy?" Dawn touched her arm lightly, but drew her hand back when her sister tensed. Things hadn't been the same after that horrible night. Buffy had helped them in the fight, but she had refused to stay another night in the house. Instead, after she had returned to the house, covered in blood and gore and dust and carrying her shiny new weapon, she had packed her bags and moved into a house a few doors down. She had refused to see anyone other than Faith and Spike. That was when she knew that this betrayal would not be so easily forgiven as others were.

She knew why. No matter what they'd done, no matter what their stupid mistakes had brought about, Buffy had always been there. To protect them, to forgive them, to love them anyway. They had always been there for each other, to comfort and console, but no one more than Buffy. She had been the one who had to take care of the monsters their mistakes had risen, even her own. Then she'd bring them home, patch their wounds, and tell them that it would be okay. She made a mistake, one that turned out to not be a mistake at all, and they turned on her completely. First their dad, then mom, Angel, Giles and now her and the very friends that kept her fighting all this time.

"Now, I'm going to get you all to LA." Buffy finally answered. "Everybody on the bus."

Buffy sat in the rear seats, away from everyone else, as she thought over the plans that she had made. With Faith's help, she'd had fake papers made for her death, should she, by some miracle, actually survive. Faith would slip them into the right hands after she disappeared. When the news of her death hit the courts, custody of Dawn will revert back to Willow and Giles like it had the last time she'd died. She had a whole new identity waiting for her in saddlebags on a motorcycle in a garage a few blocks from the Hyperion Hotel. She'd get the girls settled, give her body time to heal, then be gone. Now, she just had to decide whether she was going to tell anyone, or simply disappear.

Willow turned in her seat to look back at her friend. Buffy was sitting alone, staring out of the window, with a thoughtful look on her face. She wanted to go back there and talk to her, but Buffy had kept them all at a distance that they just couldn't seem to get across. Xander had said that she had been withdrawing from them, but now she was completely cut off. Since that night, Buffy had only talked to them about her plans for the fight with The First. She wondered if they would ever get past this. She glanced over at Xander. She knew that he still felt that they were right, but she wasn't so sure anymore.

"You are wondering if you were wrong." Willow jumped slightly as Anya sat down next to her. The ex-vengeance demon was looking seriously battered. She had almost died at a Bringer's sword, but Andrew had finally grown a spine and thrown himself at the Bringer's back, deflecting the worst of the blow at the last moment. The sword had sunk into Anya shoulder, and she'd almost lost her arm, but Willow had found them as she stumbled out and, stilled overflowing with the White Magic of the Guardian, had mostly healed the wound before she nearly passed out.

"Yeah." Willow sat back, tears filling her eyes.

"You were." Anya said bluntly.

Willow looked at her in shock. That was the last thing she expected to hear.

"Buffy had previously defeated some of the worst demons to walk this Earth. She's the most successful Slayer to ever have lived, and that is simply because she managed to live past her teens. She always had you to help, yes, but in the end, it was always her that had to make the BIG sacrifice. She made mistakes, but she was only working with the information, time, and resources that she had."

"But, but, you were right there with us." Willow sputtered, confused. "You were the one who said that she didn't deserve to be leader."

"I did say that." Anya nodded, cradling her still aching arm close to her chest. "That is because I knew that she would be better off fighting without all of you throwing off her concentration. As long as she was listening to everyone's whining, she was not concentrating fully on defeating The First. I watched her fight against Angelus. Her agony is what originally drew me to Sunnydale, but there was no way I was getting between the Slayer and the Scourge. I did learn, however, that once all of her focus is on her opponent, she is very nearly undefeatable. I admit, though, that I did not expect you to kick her out."

Willow stared at her with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"I mean, really, Willow," Anya continued blithely. "I have lived for over a thousand years. I've seen what a Slayer's life is really like. So, do you honestly think that I, of all people, would really consider her lucky to have been Chosen?"

"She's not going to forgive us, is she?" She leaned her head back against the seat, tears trailing down her cheeks.

"I wouldn't." Anya admitted. "But Buffy has never reacted in the way others have, so I do not know."

~~~ BtVS ~~ BtVS ~~~

"Huh, didn't see that coming." Faith commented, dropping in the seat next to the elder Slayer.

"Hmm. I think we've been underestimating Anya. She's nothing if not pragmatic." Buffy mused, then she turned to look at Faith. "Have you been feeling any different, since the spell? I think we were affected by it as well."

"What do ya mean?"

"I got gutted down there." Buffy pulled up her bloody shirt. All that was left of the wound was a deep, but rapidly healing cut. Leaning closer, Faith's breath left in a rush. It was healing before her eyes. "This should have taken a couple of days to heal, not a couple of hours."

"You're thinking that we got juiced when everybody else got jumpstarted?" Faith asked.

Buffy nodded. "That's exactly what I'm thinking. At this rate, I should be all healed by morning. Wanna spar?"

Faith grinned. "You know I love nothing better than to kick your lily white ass."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Says the ass, who's equally lily white, that has been forced to eat those words, twice now."

"Nuh uh, baby, there ain't nothin' lilly white about _my_ ass." Faith smirked. "I'm all golden from head to toe."

Buffy's mouth fell open. "Oh, come on, Faith, I _did not_ need to know that!"

Faith sat back with a smug look. Finally, she let the grin fade as she focused on the heads in front of her. "Seriously, B, what _are_ you going to do now?"

Buffy sighed as she glanced briefly at the young woman that had gone from bitter enemy to one of her best friends. "I'm going to get them all settled, and then I'm leaving. I don't know where I'm going yet, but when I get there and settled, I'll let you know."

"You gonna tell the others?"

"No, I don't think so. I'm thinking of just writing some letters for each of them, and one for Angel. I remember how it was when I came back that summer after I'd killed Angel. At first, everyone was so relieved and happy that I was back, but then they made it seem like I was so selfish and irresponsible for leaving in the first place. Mom understood after a while, after we really sat down and talked about it. I know that if I tell them that I'm leaving, and they do something like that again, I'll never want to speak to them again, even if it is just panic talking."

~~~ BtVS ~~ BtVS ~~~

Two weeks after they arrived in LA, Buffy disappeared.

She had made herself as unavailable as she could, staying out of the planning as much as possible. Then, one day, she announced that she was going out, and simply never came back. With her recent isolationist tendencies, it took the gang a few days to realize that she was gone.

Faith watched them scramble with mild amusement, but when Willow started talking about tracking spells, she called it all to a halt. She opened their eyes to the fact that Buffy had contributed so little to their plans for the future because she was always planning to leave. She shook her head in disappointment as, just like Buffy had predicted, the accusations started flying fast and furious.

"Shut the fuck up!" She shouted. Everyone fell silent in shock at her outburst. "You people are unbelievable. Did you really think that she was gonna stick around after what you did? This is exactly why she didn't tell anyone that she was bailing." She threw the letters as the designated people. "She wrote these because she knew, _she knew_, that you'd start this shit, and she knew that she'd never forgive you if she had to listen to it again. You wanted her gone, remember? Now, you're getting what you asked for. Deal with it. I'm outta here."

The Scoobies and the Fang Gang all watched in shock as she stormed out of the hotel, muttering angrily to herself.

**A/N: This is a prologue-type ficlet. If you have a story where this could fit as a prologue, feel free to use it. Just give me my props, and let me know so I can come read it. :)**


End file.
